


There are so Many Colors in the Rainbow,

by Amiyusesha



Series: Dragons AU [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Dragons, M/M, MHEA_Harlequin_2020, Other, Shapeshifting, Species Swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-19 00:30:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22969033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amiyusesha/pseuds/Amiyusesha
Summary: Some dragons adjust to their new forms while parsing the politics which surround their colony.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Phil Coulson, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Dragons AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1628293
Comments: 16
Kudos: 63
Collections: MHEA Harlequin Hoopla Prompt Challenge 2020





	There are so Many Colors in the Rainbow,

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the February 29 Fantasy AU Suspense prompt (supernatural/action, any rating)

Tony drifted awake slowly. Comfort, heat and the soft edge of remembered exhaustion driving him to curl back into sleep and fight the dancing ideas trying to lure him towards wakefulness. Curling up was harder than usual as he seemed to have about three extra limbs. His head snapped up, and up, and up some more before he froze, disoriented. Nothing around him was familiar, but it was breathtakingly beautiful. A rainbow of colors he had no name for twined its way across the walls surrounding the sandy pit he was sleeping in. It was the large, mostly blue form next to him that allowed him to place himself. Steve, his beautiful Steve, sleeping curled mostly around him in a place that was shaped like… Steve’s room. But the Colors! Tony had always thought the paint job in Steve’s room, all the dragon rooms, oddly blocky and bland. Now, staring around at the gorgeous and intricate wall patterns Tony finally, truly understood why color names translated so very poorly between languages. How much effort had it cost Steve to paint the human bedrooms in colors and patterns that humans could see and find pleasing? The intricate etchings Steve added to their brass work had clued Tony in to Steve’s artistic tendencies long ago, but he’d never realized just how talented an artist Steve truly was.

“Tony? Is something wrong?” Steve’s voice held both an edge of worry and a slight slur of sleepiness. Tony turned, pressing his face into the warm, soft, dark place under Steve’s wing, not even sure why he was trying to hide from the proof that so many of his dreams truly HAD come true yesterday.

“It’s so beautiful. How did I never realize how beautiful your paintings were before?” Steve carefully shifted his body and his wing so that Tony was curled under and against him.

“There are a lot of differences between the way dragons see and the way humans see. I always hoped I’d done a good job when I was painting the human rooms.”

“You did such a good job that I had no idea how vast the difference was going to be. I knew from my reading that colors didn’t translate right but I thought ‘they see more shades than we do’ not ‘there is a vast array of colors and light that humans are incapable of experiencing’.”

“I’m not sure if I should say ‘Sorry’ or ‘Thank You’,” Steve replied in a rather bemused tone.

“Oh, Hey!” Tony scrambled out from under Steve’s wing so that he was in the full light brought to Steve’s room by mirrors from one of his hidden windows. “What colors am I!” He twisted his long neck around, hopping eagerly from foot to foot while trying to get his wings to do what he wanted. He seemed to transition from what he would have called bright red to a rich yellow gold, with a rich, deep line of long black feathers along the edge of his wing, and the flight feathers along his back legs.

Steve didn’t respond for a moment, seeming mesmerized by the flickering of those black feathers against the brightness that was the rest of Tony. “You look like fire and molten metal.” He replied while shaking himself to alertness and climbing to his feet. “Come on, you are probably hungry. I should get you breakfast.”

“Can I come hunting too?” Tony asked eagerly as he tried to find a comfortable way to fold his wings while trotting along after Steve.

“I think it would likely be better if I go hunting alone. I can bring back something big while you and our guests stretch your wings over the lake.”

“You are very big. The rest of us are pretty much the same size as Phil.”

“Yeah. I’m older, by significant margin, and I’m big for my age.”

“Have you always been big for your age?”

“No. I got a lot bigger when I became guardian of my third of the… what were they calling it? The Goober? I guess I could start teaching you draconic pronunciations.”

“Goober works for me. We can call yours piece one and mine piece two… Oh, Hey everybody!” The other three dragons were standing in the main hall again, having clearly woken up around the same time as their hosts. The purple and white one was hopping around in much the same way Tony had just done, he too had a black edge to his wings he was having a hard time seeing. Despite her more complex coloring the red headed, red chested dragon seemed much more able to restrain herself from hopping about.

“Steve was going to hunt us breakfast. Do you guys want to try flying over the lake? What should I call you anyway? Do you have preferences?”

“Clint,” The purple and white dragon said.

“Nat,” said the dragon whose delicately detailed black trimmed with white wing feathers merged so smoothly into a black mask and a white throat.

“Great! I’m Tony!” Tony glanced around to see that Steve had slipped off. “How bout I show you to the flight platform out back and we can kill some time until Steve’s return?”

Tony was rarely not thinking, and so as he walked he contemplated the floor plan of Steve’s lair. With what he had learned yesterday it was clear that it had been designed with finding the artifacts in mind. Tony had thought Steve’s flashes of guilt when his past came up were because he had given up on whatever quest had brought him so far from other dragons. Despite that, it was clear that the three main suites had been designed for three artifact holders to share with three half human consorts while the pods along the wide outer hallway were for younger, unmated dragons to sleep comfortably alone. Three hallways lead down, one for the Library, one for the work shop, one for the big sandy room Tony suspected was meant to be a nursery. What colors would he see down there now that he had dragon eyes?

He ignored the down hallways and led the newcomers up instead. The hall here was almost as large as the main hall below, but rather trillium shaped rather than round, with one lobe ending in the stairway to the main part of the compound and each of the others being a guard post. Tony found little desire in himself to hop now that Steve was gone, but was pleased with the easy way his new dragon body turned the wheel that controlled the back door. All three of the newcomers blinked and fluffed in surprise when the entirety of the back wall twisted on its track opening their way to the flight platform. A path to his left lead to the top of the cliff and the viewing platform Tony had watched all their varied guests arrive from just yesterday. He ignored that as well and trotted out to where the long oval of the platform ended to look down at the water so far below. “The door is cool, isn’t is?” Tony chatted as he gazed around. “I designed it when I moved in. The trillium room used to be open to this platform, and super cold in the winter, but now it seals up tight and its possible to keep that area warm enough for guards to be comfortable, if we had enough residents to HAVE guards. I'm real pleased by how smooth the tracks are. I think that sort of construction could be used on a much grander scale. It would really smooth out and speed up trade between cities if we ran tracks between them and ran carriages along the tracks instead of the kind of roads trade flows along now…”

Tony flicked his wings out to their full extension, enjoying how the wind felt in feathers, then twisted his head around on his long neck so that he could see Phil sitting near the opening to the trillium hall. “How do we do this?” he asked curiously while he admired the iridescent colors the sunlight was pulling out of the feathers that had seemed black to his human eyes. Would a human see any of these colors in the sunlight, or would Phil always look plain to them?

“I’ve never actually taught anyone to fly before.” Phil said seriously.

“Well, I don’t imagine Steve has either, and you are the only two here with any idea how this is supposed to go, so how were you taught?” Tony replied.

“Well, once I was fledged, and allowed out onto the flight platforms, I started by stretching and exercising my wings.” Phil said.

“OK. How do we do that?” Nat asked.

Phil arranged the three of them around the platform and walked them through a series of exercises designed to strengthen their flight muscles. “I ache in muscles I didn’t have yesterday.” Clint announced cheerfully when Phil called a halt to the activity.

Tony made an odd, questioning sound in the back of his throat, then blinked, startled with himself.

“Steve’s on his way back.” Phil answered, understanding what Tony meant better than Tony himself did. “See there.” Phil pointed with his tail. “Whatever he caught is huge.”

Tony looked where Phil had gestured, shook his head, then looked again, surprised by how much control he seemed to have over the distances at which his eyes were capable of focusing. “I bet it’s a moose. When he wants to dry meat for the winter he flies far enough to catch them. This is the time of year they normally congregate north of the Marsh.”

It was indeed a moose, a youngish male one. And while the three new dragons stared at it in consternation Phil and Steve skinned it and ripped it apart into six big chunks. Tony gnawed on his leg for a moment, then tried the grab and rip maneuver he’d seen Steve perform hundreds of times. He made a startling amount of mess consuming his former body weight in meat, then tried to groom himself with his oddly barbed tongue in another maneuver he’d seen Steve perform hundreds of times. It worked surprisingly well to get the blood off of his feathers. Tony blinked and shook his head, annoyed at himself for being surprised. Steve was clean, and smelled pleasant most of the time. Why was he surprised that Steve’s cleaning methods worked well? Once clean Tony moved over to Steve and tucked himself back into his customary position under one of the bigger dragon’s wings. After a moment he realized he was making Steve’s soft rather purr like sound of contentment and hiccuped himself to a stop. It was rather startling how instinctive some of these dragon noises seemed to be. The other four dragons all looked at him with some variation of amusement and he fluffed a bit in embarrassment. If he’d still had visible skin he would definitely have been blushing. Tony tried to focus on how correctly he had been translating Steve's emotional cues, rather than how transparently he himself was behaving.

“Do we need to help with the humans out front?” Nat asked, saving Tony from his bought of introspection.

“We should introduce you lot to the Howling Commandos.” Steve replied thoughtfully. "I don’t want people panicking when they see dragons who aren’t me flying… unless you aren’t planning on staying?”

“If we are welcome…”Phil started, then hesitated.

“You are welcome. I built this lair hoping that others would listen, and follow me here. I am thrilled to have you.” Steve reached out and gently brushed his cheek against Phil’s. The move made Phil fluff up in surprised delight, while both Tony and Clint bristled jealously. Nat trilled a delighted laugh at the scene, then glanced around once she had the attention of the others.

“We shouldn’t tell them about the artifacts.” She said firmly. “We should have some other story… Maybe… Tony, Clint and I are siblings. Tony came here to be your mate, we came to keep him company, and Phil came to stay with his mate Clint.”

“That’s really good.” Tony said thoughtfully. “It’s a good fall back for when Steve or Phil knows something completely differently from us. We three had the same upbringing.”

“This way Steve and Phil can stick with what they actually know, and the three of us can come up with a background other than ‘grew up human’ together.” Clint agreed.

“We let Steve do most of the talking right now though. We are still shy around humans. Stutter a simple answer we can work with later if someone puts us on the spot, and apologize for our lack of skill with human language,” Nat finished.

“Talking about lack of skill with human language…”

“Tony, No.” Steve begged.

“ASK Steve about his conversation with Queen Peggy and General Fury about gender pronouns.”

“Tony…”

“It’s a great story Steve!”

“Tony.”

“They should know why the only pronoun you use is ‘He’”

“Tony.”

“We’re all He’s.” Tony snickered.

“We should stick with that.” Nat chirped, clearly struggling with giggles. “We are all He’s.”

“Aren’t we?” Steve said uncertainly. “Has someone had offspring?”

All three of the former humans dissolved into trilling laughter, while Phil looked over at Steve in commiseration. “I don’t get it either.”

Steve waited until everyone had pulled themselves back together before heading out to confront the humans. The three newcomers watched as he spun the wheel that lifted the inner gate, then stepped into the vestibule to maneuver the bars that operated the outer gate. He padded out alone and initially ignored Obie again to approach Dum Dum Dugan. “I hope that rush yesterday wasn’t a sign of something wrong?” The bulky red head said with clear concern, fiddling slightly with his bushy mustache.

“No… umm… something good actually…or at least, I hope everyone will be happy for me.” Steve stuttered a little.

“So give us the news big guy.” Dum Dum chuckled, patting the rough scales of Steve’s leg with clear relief.

“Oh. Ok.” Steve turned back to the door a trilled a clear come hither, so the rest of the dragons spilled out into the courtyard behind him. Tony easily slithered into his favorite spot under Steve’s wing, while Clint and Phil tucked against each other near the door and Nat prowled the courtyard for a minute before hopping up onto the wall by the gate where she had a lovely view of the path down the cliff side.

“This is Tony.” Steve tucked his wing firmly around the smaller dragon and nuzzled the side of his face. “He came here to be my mate. That is Nat,” Steve gestured towards the gate with his tail. “Tony’s eldest sibling. Clint is Tony’s other sibling, and Clint’s mate is Phil.” Steve gestured towards the pair by the door. “I have a family now.”

“And hopefully eggs soon.” Tony murmured, unable to resist the opportunity. Steve didn’t disappoint, fluffing up so dramatically that the red on his crest was visible. He forced his feather flat, then twisted his head around running his cheek along Tony’s, then down Tony’s neck in a way that made him shiver and fluff in turn. Steve hissed out a long word/phrase in draconic that Tony was pretty sure was an admonishment against flirting in front of the humans. Behind them someone nearly choked trying to restrain an amused trill.

“We’ll be careful o’ hatchlings next time we come by.” Dum Dum chortled, clearly pleased by something. “S’ this mean you’ll have help on th’ patrols?”

“Phil will be running patrols with me once I introduce him to everyone. The others may join in sometimes, depending on their moods. We will be able to increase the frequency we check the borders as well. More dragons means more eyes and wings doing more work.”

“An th’ two farmers?”

“I wasn’t expecting…”Steve paused, glancing around at his new family “… this. I traded with one of the local farms for some delicacies.”

“Domestic geese…” Tony murmured to himself, remembering last time Steve had traded with one of the farms beyond the woods, and how much he had enjoyed his snacks.

“I’ve a couple of humans living here now too. You might see them running errands for me. It takes them longer to get places, but they don’t scare the local livestock the way I do."

“Oughta get you’selv some cattle while you tradin’. Ifn you got hands about to milk ‘em.”

“I might try that.” Steve replied with a blink. “I don’t know how well they’ll produce with us nesting nearby. Did you want my company on this patrol?”

“Aye, We’ve got word o’ bandits hidin’ to the south o’ the dunes. Eyes in th’ sky would be appreciated.”

“I’ll go.” Phil spoke from behind them. “It seems like a good chance to get to know my new allies.”

“Aye!” Dugan agreed cheerfully. “We’ll have your new brother-in-law back to ya ina few days, Stevie.”

“Thank You.” Steve watched the Commandos break camp for a moment, then turned his attention to Obadiah. “And how can I help you?” Tony moved with Steve as he shifted into the center of the courtyard. At sometime when the dragons were attending to something else the carriage horses had been taken down to the paddock and the carriage had become a sort of center piece to a second camp site. From his new vantage Tony could clearly see Rhodey and Pepper sitting with Happy at the front of the carriage while Obie approached Steve.

“I’m here looking for Anthony Stark. I heard he frequently keeps company with you.”

“Anthony can often be found here, that is true, but I have recently been too occupied to work on projects with him. I can give him a message when he returns if you would like.” Steve replied.

“I’m afraid I need to speak with him rather urgently. I would be willing to wait if he is returning in the next few days?”

“I don’t know if I can arrange that, he is a good friend but…”

“He had no interest in your nuptials? I can see that. The boy has always been completely self interested… he is rather like his father in that regard.”

“I… well, hmm. May I ask what sort of need makes you willing to set up camp in front of my home?”

“Ah, see, Anthony is desperately needed back in Shikaakwa. His parents are dead, and his brother is missing.”

**Author's Note:**

> Shikaakwa means where the wild leek grows. It is the word that lent its name to the city of Chicago, and the Chicago River. In this fic it is the Rive side estate of the Stark family.
> 
> Dum Dum's accent is based on a gentleman I grew up around who was always talking around a cigar. It isn't meant to replicate a real world accent.


End file.
